The Ties That Bind Are The Ties Of Family
by Sami S
Summary: After she went missing for three years, Brennan is reunited with his sister Charli. Please R & R!
1. The Message

Disclaimer: Never had and never will (sadly) own the rights to Mutant X or any of its characters. The geniuses at Marvel Comics and Fireworks productions own those. I do however own Charli my own personal creation.  
  
One  
  
Brennan couldn't concentrate. For almost a week he felt like he had ants crawling under his skin. He recognized the feeling as the same one that he had been having every year now for three years. He knew Adam was doing everything he could do to help him, but Brennan still felt that he should be doing more than just relying on Adam. Today of all days he felt like he was going to explode in a million different directions at one. He locked himself up in his room and tried to drown himself in a book. It was only partially working, sometimes causing himself to allow his mind to wander to his problem. It was getting harder to snap himself out of it as time passed.  
  
He was sprawled out on his bed, book open, when there was a knock on his door. Brennan jumped at the sound then mentally shook himself. He was being jumpy and irrational. He needed to stay calm and focused just so that the others didn't get on him about his behavior. He sat up in bed and took a deep breath.  
  
"Come in."  
  
The door opened and Shalimar stepped inside slowly. She had a tentative look on her face as if she were stepping into a sensitive area. She gave him a slight smile then walked in fully, Brennan noticed that she had an envelope in her hand.  
  
"Hey, am I interrupting?"  
  
Brennan sighed, "Not really, can't concentrate on anything right now."  
  
Shalimar nodded and stood there not sure what to say one hand on the doorknob the other one tapping the envelope lightly against her leg. She seemed to be deciding what to say and how.  
  
"Look, I know its none of our business if its personal, but what's going on? You've been acting kind of weird the last couple of days," concern showed in her eyes and he kicked himself. What the others didn't notice Shalimar usually did.  
  
"I know, its just I've had a lot on my mind," he looked down at the book that he was still holding in his hands.  
  
"Did you want to talk about it? It might help."  
  
"Not much to talk about, just this nagging feeling really," he looked up and gave her a reassuring smile. "Just feeling restless I guess."  
  
"You sure?" she frowned slightly still not completely convinced.  
  
"Yeah, really I'm fine. I might go for a ride later though just to clear my head," he said closing the book and tossing to one side. Shalimar nodded again, still tapping the envelope against her leg. Brennan smiled again gesturing at the envelope.  
  
"You going to tell me what it is or are you going to dangle it in front of my face the entire time?"  
  
Shalimar smiled and held it out for him, "Actually it's for you, it arrived at one of our safehouse mailboxes. No return address and the only instructions are that you be the only one to open it."  
  
Brennan frowned lightly and took the envelope from her examining it carefully. It was mostly blank except for his name and the address of the safehouse. He turned it over and opened it and pulled out the letter inside. He read it in a glance and suddenly bolted from the bed startling Shalimar.  
  
"What is it? What's wrong?"  
  
"Um . . . "He stood there for a second his mind racing. "I . . . I got to go somewhere," he turned around and grabbed his coat, making sure his keys were in his pocket. "I'll be back in a few hours I promise."  
  
Brennan shrugged on his coat and was about to run out of the room when Shalimar put a hand on his shoulder stopping him.  
  
"Wait a minute Brennan, what's going on?"  
  
"No time to explain," he glanced at the clock next to his bedside. "I'm going to be late, I'll contact you guys if I need help okay?"  
  
Without another word he left the room and ran to the garage leaving Shalimar still standing in the doorway, thoroughly confused and worried.  
  
* * *  
  
Twenty minutes later Brennan found himself at a cemetery. In his hands he carried a bouquet of flowers, white lilies. He made his way towards the middle of the cemetery walking a path he had walked a dozen times before but hadn't done so in a long time. When he got close to where his final destination was he stopped.  
  
In front of the grave he was heading towards, stood a young woman. She was tall about 5'8" with longish wavy hair that was dark brown in color like his own. She was standing in profile showing her elegantly carved features that reminded him so much of their mom, the person that they were here to visit. Brennan watched her for a moment then walked over to the grave and stood by her side.  
  
"You got my message." 


	2. Worries

Disclaimer: Same as before, Charli's the only character I own.  
  
Two  
  
"Yeah, nearly missed it. Sending it through the safehouse system takes a while but it eventually hits its mark," he smiled softly and looked down at the grave, it read:  
  
Morgan Brianna Mulwray  
  
1949-1992  
  
Beloved Wife and Loving Mother  
  
"It is not the length of life, but the depth of life."  
  
Ralph Waldo Emerson  
  
At the foot of the grave there was another bouquet of lilies. Brennan smiled again and leaned down and lay his bouquet next to his sisters. He stay knelt down next to the grave for a moment then stood up. The two of them stood there for a few moments, the only sound the whispering of a slight breeze blowing through the trees around them.  
  
"You had me worried. I haven't seen or heard from you in three years."  
  
"Sorry, I had to lay low for a little while. Getting into mischief the whole time in small doses though, of course, "she smiled. "Mulwray gene law dictates that you can't be good all the time for too long."  
  
Brennan chuckled, "That is one thing we have in common Charli, some criminal tendencies just in different fields. I always had the physical stuff whereas you had a genius with the computer world. Matched up perfect if you ask me."  
  
"Brother sister tag team all set to take over the world. Let the leaders of the world tremble in fear," she giggled. Brennan looked over at her still smiling.  
  
At this angle he could see her whole face now. She had a heart shaped face with wide doe eyes that were the same color brown as Brennan's and shined with the same intensity. Her skin, which had been pale before, seemed to be even paler now. It made him wonder but at the same time he was just happy that she was here and not still missing.  
  
They both stood there in silence paying their quiet respects to their mother standing side by side. After a moment Brennan reached out and touched Charli's arm gently and, as if it were a signal, the two of them moved away from the grave and started to walk away. They got halfway to the parking area before Brennan spoke again.  
  
"Seriously though Charli, what happened to you? After three years you start to imagine things like death when a person you care about disappears like that and I have to say that it wasn't fair of you just to take off like that."  
  
"I'm sorry Brennan," she stopped walking and looked down at her feet. "I didn't mean to. I went to look for you once I got out of that foster home, the day after I turned eighteen. But I couldn't find you. I looked up all of your old addresses but I couldn't find you. After a while I just wandered around, then these guys in suits showed up...."  
  
"What?" Brennan looked at her in alarm.  
  
"I barely managed to throw them off. That's why I left the state. I figured that if I kept moving they wouldn't be able to find me and it seems it worked. After a while though I couldn't stay away too long, I knew you were here and I had to find you. I met this friend of mine who also turns out to be a new mutant and she told me about Mutant X and the Underground, so I knew you were alive and how to contact you. The rest is history."  
  
"Then she must have told you that those guys in suits are part of the GSA right?"  
  
Charli nodded, "Yeah, she told me about all of that. I just can't believe it, I didn't know there were other people like us out there, not that many anyway. I thought there were just a few of us out there with powers like these and it turns out there's a whole group of them. It's kind of comforting."  
  
"Yeah it is..." his voice trailed off and he looked at her again still amazed that she was standing in front of him and that she was okay. Impulsively he reached out and hugged her; startled it took a minute before she hugged him back smiling slightly.  
  
"I'm okay Bren, I'm not going anywhere this time."  
  
"Damn right you're not, you're coming with me," he said pulling away.  
  
"What do you mean?" She asked a confused look on her face.  
  
"There's no way I'm going to leave you out here by yourself when the GSA knows what you look like and what you are. I'm going to take you someplace safe where they won't find you."  
  
"Like where?" She asked a confused look on her face as Brennan started walking towards the parking area again and she followed.  
  
"How does Mutant X headquarters sound?"  
  
"Um are you sure that's a good idea? Don't you have to approve it with someone or something?"  
  
"We don't have time, I want to make sure you're safe. Where's your stuff?"  
  
"My pack's strapped to the back of my bike. Are we just going to leave it here?"  
  
Brennan glanced over at her bike and then back over at the car he drove here. He started to walk towards the bike.  
  
"Yeah, we can always come back for it later. It'll be fine here, besides we can come back for it later today it's no big deal," He went over to the bike, unstrapped her army duffle bag and slung it over his shoulder. Brennan led Charli over to the car. He unlocked the doors and put the bag in the backseat before gesturing for her to get in. When she was settled into the passenger seat he closed the door and got in on the drivers side. He looked over and noticed that Charli was looking a little nervous. Brennan reached over and put his hand over hers giving her a slight smile.  
  
"It's going to be all right Charli, I promise. I told you I'd take care of you and that's exactly what I'm going to do. You trust me don't you?"  
  
She gave his hand a squeeze, "Of course I do Brennan, I'm just not much of a people person you know that."  
  
"I know, and that's why it's time to get over that," he smiled at her and started the car. A few minutes later they were pulling out of the graveyard.  
  
* * *  
  
Shalimar was pacing around the upper level of Sanctuary stopping every now and then to look over at everything below her, her gaze distant. She had been doing this for ten minutes now, she had tried to let out her energy by sparring but it didn't seem to hold. Shalimar was worried, and she couldn't shake the feeling that something big was going to happen, something that wasn't necessarily a good thing.  
  
Jesse walked up the stair with a cup of coffee in his hand. He stopped halfway up when he heard Shalimar's footsteps pacing around but then he continued up the stairs. Jesse saw Shalimar pacing around and leaned against the upper level wall watching her pace. Shalimar hadn't noticed him at first but then when she turned around to pace in another circle she saw him standing there and she stopped.  
  
Jesse smiled at her, "Hey, feeling a bit restless are we?"  
  
"I'm just worried that's all," she said and went back to pacing.  
  
"About?" Jesse took a sip of his coffee leaning back against the wall. In one breath Shalimar told Jesse about what had happened earlier that day, about Brennan and his message from a mysterious source.  
  
"He just took off without another word, he didn't say who the note was from or where he was going. Brennan just bolted out of here like a bat out of Hell."  
  
"Huh, does seem kind of weird, but then again it's also not the first time you know?"  
  
"Yeah, but still this seemed really important." Shalimar sighed and sat down. "I don't know, I guess maybe I'm just worrying too much."  
  
"Probably," He smiled when she glared at him. "What I mean is that you have this natural protective nature for people close to you and this is one of those instances where your instincts are being kicked into high gear that's all."  
  
"I guess," she gave him a half smile. "Nice save by the way."  
  
"No problem," Jesse grinned back at her and took another sip of his coffee 


End file.
